Micro Tomato 101 Small Size

Micro Tomatoes were created to be self-pollinating, small in size, and delicious in taste.

Let’s talk about “small in size”.

Tomato plants have two different growth habits.

One type will grow to a determined height, bush out, and produce a LOT of tomatoes in about 2-3 week’s time before the plant withers and dies back (it does all of it’s work in one shot).

This is called a determinate tomato. Set height, set timing, and lots of tomatoes at once (great for canning or freezing tomatoes).

The other type is more like a vine that will grow as long as you let it – called INDETERMINATE as it will grow to an indeterminate height AND indeterminate time frame.

These tomato plants will grow as long as you have warm weather, cool weather ends their season.

They produce a small amount of tomatoes at a time all season long.

What are the benefits of each?

The benefit of the determinate tomatoes is LOTS of tomatoes all at once.

The benefit of indeterminate tomatoes is having tomatoes all season long.

How do micro tomatoes grow?

Micro tomatoes are technically an indeterminate plant in the sense that they will continue to grow tomatoes as long as you give them healthy conditions along with water, light, and nutrients.

In general, the micro tomatoes also have a determinate style of growing. If you keep the light a few inches above them as they grow, they typically grow to 12-24” tall.

I’ve grown them under a tall lamp and they stretched out to get as much light as possible. They didn’t get as many branches or tomatoes because they were unsteady growing so tall. One tip is to keep a light a few inches above them so they grow out instead of stretching.

Adding a skewer to hold them upright is beneficial whether the plant gets too tall or when the plant has so many tomatoes it tends to fall over. A little extra support goes a long way! 

More tips like this will be in the growing guide included with each purchase of a micro tomato plant.

So micro tomatoes are the best of both worlds?

Pretty much!.

You’ll have tomatoes that LOVE to grow to only 12-24” tall, the height of a kitchen countertop.

When they grow to that height, they love to be bushy, full of stems, and lots of tomatoes per plant.

These tomato plants can stay on your kitchen counter as you wait for tomatoes from the garden OR you can add them to your garden in the warm season.

As long as the plants stay healthy you can keep growing them for years to come.

Check out this page for more details.

With gratitude and gardeners grit,

Laura

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